and film-maker

known for movies like ‘Gangajal’, ‘Raajneeti’ and more had married each other after they first met on the sets of ‘Hip Hip Hurray’. The couple however, got divorced in 2002 after tying the knot in 1985.

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In a recent interview, Deepti has spoken about their divorce and how it affected her mental health. Though today, both of them are friendly and cordial with each other co-parent their daughter Disha Jha.

Looking back at the beginning of their relationship, she recalled how their bond grew while working together on films like ‘Kamla’, ‘Ankahee’, and Jha’s debut ‘Hip Hip Hurray’. She said in an interview with BBC Hindi, “When I got married, Bollywood still ran on the same principle that said if a heroine gets married, her career is over; she has to close down shop.

People would presume that you weren’t interested if you got married, and they would just stop approaching you for work.

What followed was a rather dark period for me, which is hard for me to talk about, but I can do it.”

Although today she and Jha “are very good friends and are each other’s support system,” she admitted it took a long time to reach this point. The early years of their marriage, she revealed, already carried signs of trouble.

“There was a time right after my marriage that within a few years I realised that things weren’t working out like the way I thought they would. At one point, our relationship came to a place where the communication between us had completely crashed.

When the marriage didn’t work out, and being the kind of person I am, I went through very bad depression. I was a student of psychology in school, and I had certain experiences, or witnessed them rather.

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I had a friend who used to have depressive episodes, and I saw the kind of characteristics she possessed and the kind of person she was. I connected the dots, and I realised after my marriage that I was going through something very identical.”

Deepti reflected on how much more complex dealing with mental health can be in the public eye, where every move is scrutinised. “When you hit rock bottom, you are the only one that can pull yourself from that pit.

Being a celebrity, you couldn’t run to someone for your mental health, because I was always conscious of what people would think if the news got out that I was taking someone’s help. So I decided that I will help myself out of this.

Every 20-25 days, I used to feel that nothing in life was working out, that I was wrong for leaving my family to come to America. I even thought that my choice of career was the wrong decision and that this unstable kind of life wasn’t for me. My writing and painting became my crutch, and I used to sit in my garage for hours on end, and I filled so many canvases and diaries.”